01 September 2019

Leaders from the retail and manufacturing sides of the automotive industry were among attendees of the latest Brexit round-table meetings held by business secretary Andrea Leadsom this week.

Daksh Gupta, chief executive of Marshall Motors, and Andy Palmer, chief executive of Aston Martin, met the business secretary at a meeting in London on Wednesday.

Speaking exclusively to Auto Retail Agenda about the meeting, Daksh Gupta said: “I don’t want to go into the specifics of who said what, as it’s not my place to do so. However, what I will say is that I took a few positives from the meeting.

“That it was happening in the first place was a good thing. It shows the Government is interested in business’s views. It also showed the secretary of state was very impressive and understood business and the economy. I’m sure her background in terms of an economics degree from Oxford and career in the City helps.

“She acknowledged that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit isn’t helping and can’t carry on and added the Government’s plan A was to secure a deal.

“From a personal perspective, it was a privilege to be invited to attend. Ahead of the meeting I spoke to several of our key manufacturer partners plus the NFDA and SMMT. I hope I did a good job of imparting the issues facing the industry at this time.

“I also gave a few suggestions including looking at how the apprenticeship levy was working and the introduction of a possible scrappage scheme. As was shown by the previous scheme, this could be self-funding and would be carbon reducing.”

A spokesman for Andy Palmer declined to comment on the content of the meeting.

Other businesses represented at the meeting included Rolls Royce, JCB, BASF, Tesco and National Grid.

Tags: Andrea Leadsom, Aston Martin, Brexit, Daksh Gupta, government, Marshall Motor Holdings